Iron metabolism in primates is characterized by a highly efficient recycling process. Consequently, there is no specific mechanism for eliminating this transition metal. Because of the lack of an iron clearance mechanism, the introduction of “excess iron” into this closed metabolic loop often leads to chronic overload and can ultimately lead to biological damage (e.g., peroxidative tissue damage). There are a number of ways in which excess iron is introduced, including a high-iron diet, acute iron ingestion or malabsorption of the metal. In each of these situations, a subject can typically be treated by phlebotomy to reduce iron levels. However, for iron-overload syndromes resulting from chronic transfusion therapy, e.g., aplastic anemia and thalassemia, phlebotomy is not an option. In these secondary iron overload syndromes, the origin of the excess iron is the transfused red blood cells. Since removing the red blood cells to remedy the iron overload would be counterproductive, an alternative method of removing iron is chelation therapy.
Although considerable effort has been invested in the development of new therapeutics for managing iron overload resulting from thalassemia, particularly therapeutics that can be administered orally, desferrioxamine B, a hexacoordinate hydroxamate iron chelator produced by Streptomyces pilosus, is still the protocol of choice. However, desferrioxamine B is not ideal for chelation therapy, because iron is removed with a low efficiency. In addition, oral activity of desferrioxamine B is marginal, thereby requiring parenteral administration, which can result in poor patient compliance, particularly for patients in need of long-term chelation therapy.
A substantial number of synthetic iron chelators have been studied in recent years as potential orally active therapeutics, e.g., pyridoxal isonicotinoyl hydrazone (PIH), hydroxypyridones and N,N′-bis-(2-hydroxybenzylethylenediamine)-N,N′-diacetic acid (HBED); however, the synthetic chelators have not yet demonstrated the desired properties (e.g., effective chelation, suitable oral activity, and acceptable toxicity). Siderophores including enterobactin and rhodotorulic acid have also been studied. However, both enterobactin and rhodotorulic acid have exhibited unacceptable toxicity and neither demonstrated measurable oral activity. In general, although a large number of siderophores and synthetic iron chelators have been developed, most have been abandoned because their properties are not suitable for use in treating chronic iron overload.
Therefore, a need still exists for novel iron chelators that can be used in chelation therapy, especially chronic chelation therapy. Suitable chelators can be efficient in chelating and removing iron from an organism, possess suitable oral bioavailability and/or pose minimal toxicity to a subject.